Swimming with Orca: My Life with New Zealand's Killer Whales [Paperback]

Ingrid Visser (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The inspiring stories of Dr Ingrid Visser's encounters with orca.

Called orca by some and killer whales by others, these mysterious animals have become part of Ingrid’s life. She has got to know many orca by sight and calls them her friends. Her experiences with orca challenge their fearsome reputation: she gets into the water with them, watches them hunt, and communicates in any way she can.

Ingrid is the only orca researcher working in the South Pacific. This book details her fascinating discoveries, as well as telling her own personal story and describing her amazing adventures.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

I’m not sure which question I get asked more often: ‘When did you first become interested in orca?’ or ‘Are you ever afraid when you swim with them?’ As I have loved orca ever since I can remember, I’ve never been afraid of them. Thinking back, it’s hard to say exactly when the fascination became an obsession, but I can remember when I was really young, about six or seven, knowing that one day I wanted to work with whales and dolphins (cetaceans). At that age I was fascinated with all types of animals, but it was cetaceans that really grabbed my attention. I was asked by one of the other kids at school if I wanted to swap a picture of a dolphin, from a magazine, for some of my treasured animal magazines. This little girl turned out to be pretty shrewd, as she managed to achieve a trade-off which saw her obtaining a whole pile of animal magazines, and me with just one dolphin picture. But I was happy, and in fact still have that dolphin picture tucked away somewhere.

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Global (December 27, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014301983X
• ISBN-13: 978-0143019831
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,379,352 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good source for learning about cetacean research, September 1, 2006

By 

C. S. Weinberg (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Swimming with Orca: My Life with New Zealand's Killer Whales (Paperback)

Dr. Visser is obviously a person who loves her work. She is a scientist specializing in cetacean research. In particular, she studies the behavior of orca, or killer whales. If you have been lucky enough to meet Visser in her native New Zealand or on an expedition to the South Pacific or Antarctica, you know how passionate she is about the creatures to which she has dedicated her life.

The book, "Swimming with Orca," is semi-autobiographical, tracing the 40 years of Visser's remarkably rich life from that of a child growing up in New Zealand and sailing around the world with her father, to that of a scientist observing orca in their natural habitat. It is the story of a young woman with a dream and the obstacles she surmounts to attain that dream. As such, the book is both educational and inspirational. The writing is unpretentious, honest and easily accessible, and is illustrated by excellent pictures, in black and white and color. It is good reading for young and old alike.

The title of the book reflects Dr. Visser's courage in the face of animals with a reputation as the deadliest in the ocean. Even more so, it reveals the mutual trust that has come to exist between Visser and the orca who know her: she literally does swim with the orca, unafraid and without the use of protective devices. And individual orca do recognize Visser and her boat, and come to play, communicate, and seek affection. Dr. Visser lovingly describes these encounters.

Important issues of wildlife management also get their due. Dr. Visser addresses some of the situations which endanger orca and other marine mammals including industrial pollution; keeping animals in captivity; and irresponsible boat handling and fishing practices. She also describes efforts to protect the N.Z. orca, including an interesting discussion of the process of rescuing beached whales.

The book is a good resource for learning about cetacean research. It documents Visser's observations of orca behavior, and it describes the scientific methodology required to do work in this field. Additionally, Visser addresses the issue: should field research among animals be of the hands-off, observation-only kind, or can a more humane and interactive approach be as valid? Visser comes squarely down on the side of the humane and interactive, citing the work of Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey. This is fortunate for the reader: a tale about a whale named Ben is entirely more enjoyable and memorable than one about a scientific specimen labeled NZ101.

Although Swimming with Orca is her first book intended for a general audience, Dr. Visser has also helped produce a video for The Discovery Channel titled "Orca - Killers I have Known," has written several books for the children's market, and has published articles in scientific journals.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful balance of science and emotion, January 15, 2007

By 

Kirsten W (Issaquah, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Swimming with Orca: My Life with New Zealand's Killer Whales (Paperback)

This book strikes a wonderful balance between straight science and the more emotional stories of interaction with the orcas. She discusses her own work, researching the orcas of New Zealand and Antarctica under more rigid scientific situations. But at the same time, she also discusses the more emotional side of her fascination with killer whales. The stories she tells of coming face-to-face with killer whales in their own element are wonderful. It's also interesting to see her acknowledge the possibility that these interactions could affect scientific data, but then also look at what she's been able to learn because of them. This book can appeal to both the more scientific-thinking public as well as the laymen - it does a wonderful job of bridging the gap between the two, a critical factor in today's world of translational science. Highly recommended for anyone with a love of wildlife!